BREAKING NEWS: The latest from the
Banzai Institute

For Immediate Release

A STATEMENT FROM EARL MAC RAUCH
AND W.D. RICHTER on Kevin Smith's Buckaroo Banzai television
project

Thursday, October 13, 2016

As
fans of Dr. Buckaroo Banzai's adventures, some of you may have
heard rumors or read in the latest issue of the Banzai Institute's
World Watch One Newsletter (10/16) that we are engaged in an
ongoing battle with MGM regarding the ownership of rights to
both THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION
and to the entire Buckaroo universe that Earl Mac Rauch began
creating a full decade before the actual movie.

On the other hand, all this may come as news to you. Many of
you perhaps are not aware that any unresolved Buckaroo rights
issues actually exist because you have quite reasonably assumed
for years that MGM "owned" Buckaroo Banzai lock, stock,
and barrel. Others of you, even after having read about the current
rights brouhaha on many different blogs, may still be confused
about the exact nature of our dispute. And, of course, some of
you may just wish the whole problem would go away so that more
Buckaroo Banzai adventures might appear. If you're in the last
category, ask yourselves, "What would Buckaroo do if something
he felt rightly belonged to one person was being taken away by
another?"

A little history is probably in order. Come with us in the time
machine back to March 25, 1981, when the producer Sydney Beckerman
received from W.D. Richter and Neil Canton a bound volume they
called "A Buckaroo Banzai Sampler" consisting of extracts
from no fewer than five separate Buckaroo Banzai adventures.
Beckerman read the Buckaroo Sampler and the next day took Canton
and Richter into MGM to give studio chief David Begelman a detailed
presentation of Rauch's wholly original, multi-episode saga.
They left behind a copy of "A Buckaroo Banzai Sampler"
for Begelman's perusal.

One day later, on Friday afternoon, March 27, 1981, Begelman
told Beckerman that he had taken a shine to one episode in particular,
"LEPERS FROM SATURN - A BUCKAROO BANZAI ADVENTURE".
It had been presented to him as a 57-page treatment in which
Buckaroo squared off against grotesque aliens from another planet
who were moving amongst us disguised as Earthlings! MGM wanted
to hire Mac to turn that into a screenplay. It was crystal clear
Begelman was not proposing that Mac base his MGM script upon
all the separate episodes presented to the studio in "A
Buckaroo Banzai Sampler"in much the same way that one would
never propose that a script for "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
be based upon "The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".
All of this is highly significant and, as lawyers say, "foundational".

A problem arises (the root of the dispute) in that nowhere does
MGM define in the contract exactly what underlying material was
to be the source of Mac's "work". He was definitely
not hired to write an Original Screenplay because the MGM contract
specifically engaged him only to write a script based on what
it called "the Property", which the studio itself defined
as "an original story idea by Writer"an idea, as we
know, that came to them in the form of an underlying treatment
they never owned because its acquisition was never even mentioned
in the contract. Instead, all of Mac's fees were linked directly
to his work only on the script itself!
Meanwhile, in 1981, while Mac was writing the first draft of
his screenplay, a flurry of real-life events changed the landscape.
MGM purchased United Artists and merged the two companies. On
July 13, 1982, while Mac was doing revisions on his first draft,
David Begelman was removed as chief of MGM/UA. The new administration
was wholeheartedly unenthusiastic about BUCKAROO BANZAI and agreed
to sign the project over to Begelman's freshly minted independent
company, the bankruptcy-plagued outfit known as Sherwood Productions
which Begelman would leverage into a complex and chaotic series
of mortgages, assignments, and a host of other dubious financial
manipulations involving unwitting entities like European American
Bank and Trust Company, Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Company
of Chicago, Time Warner Entertainment Company LP, August Entertainment,
Inc., the Kushner-Locke Company, and many, many more. These bizarre,
conflicting and overlapping entanglements hollowed out and threw
into great confusion the ownership rights to "THE ADVENTURES
OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION" and eventually
resulted in the bankruptcy of both Sherwood Productions and Gladden
Entertainment (a company Mr. Begelman formed after the collapse
of Sherwood Productions). A despondent David Begelman committed
suicide on August 7, 1995, in Los Angeles.
So as years turned into decades, the rights to Buckaroo twisted
and turned, jumping from company to company, from bank to bank,
disappearing entirely at times and then reappearing first in
one studio's library and then inexplicably in another's, leaving
a paper trail no legal bloodhound could hope to follow. In short,
from the moment Begelman lost control of the title, it became,
from month to month, anybody's guess who might or might not have
possessed documentation proving their exclusive ownership of
THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION.

By 1998, yet another MGM administration had reentered the picture,
having ironically acquired a bulk library of films from Seagrams
Universal that happened to contain a movie David Begelman set
in motion seventeen years earlier: THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO
BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION. But in 1998, the new MGM team
agreed with Begelman's immediate 1982 successors and considered
Buckaroo a moribund brand of little worth to the studio. Understandably
then, they saw no reason to waste time and resources investigating
the spotty rights documentation that accompanied such an apparent
loser.
We did take the time, however, hiring at our own expense a nationally
respected firm to research ownership of the film, something like
a mortgage company doing a title search to authenticate ownership
of real estate. Thomson & Thomson's 1999 report made it clear
that there were significant gaps in the Buckaroo chain of title
- the same reality that Warner Brothers confronted ten years
later. Why would Warners even figure in this controversy? Because
in 2009 Warner Brothers, in a potential partnership with MGM,
approached us to create an animated television series, based
on a concept they dubbed "THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO
BANZAI". When we expressed enthusiasm, their legal team
did a thorough search of the chain of title and found too many
gaps to proceed with the project. As indicated by the following
pair of emails Warner Bros. sent to our representatives, that
studio was saying MGM could not, to Warners satisfaction, prove
ownership of the title:

Jeff and Ryan ­ I apologize for our inability to connect
by phone this week. As I previously mentioned, I passed all of
the documents you sent along to our rights department. After
their review and analysis, they found two major gaps in the chain
of title (and perhaps some minor ones, as well). 1. There is
a gap between Credit Lyonnaise and Universal/Polygram. 2. There
is a gap between Polygram and Richter/Rauch. The rights department
is doing further research in an attempt to close these gaps.
That means we're willing to do the legwork (and bear the cost)
to try and figure this out. I am hoping that will be received
as good news. For now, WB will foot the bill and see what we
can find out. The bad news is that this means additional time
while we try to satisfy ourselves that the rights are available.
I am not sure how long to expect, but we should probably touch
base in about a week. That is all I have to report for now. Clearing
the chain of title remains the number one issue for us, but hopefully
we are moving in a positive direction. If you have any questions
or comments, please let me know. Otherwise, let's try to touch
base in a week or so.

Jeff and Ryan - At long last, I am pleased to get back to you
with a response regarding the chain of title. I am sorry it took
so long, but the rights department has been busy with a number
of priorities for other divisions. As we have discussed a number
of times, Warner Bros. would require a clean chain-of-title in
order to option and move forward with development of an animated
project based upon "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across
The 8th Dimension." Unfortunately, because of a number of
transfers of the rights in the property, there are gaps in the
chain. These gaps need to be closed before we can proceed any
further. 1. Agreement between MGM and Sherwood. 2. Mortgage of
Copyright from Sherwood to Lyonnais. 3. Foreclosure on the mortgage
by Credit Lyonnais showing its succession to the rights. 4. December
1995 assignment from Lyonnais to Alpha. 5. November 1998 assignment
from Alpha to Polygram. There may be additional open questions,
but these are the most pressing. My rights team has done as much
as it can at this point. After you have had a chance to review
the above with your clients, we should set up a time to discuss
next steps. I apologize that I am not delivering better news,
but I can assure you the rights team worked very hard to create
the best outcome they could. I look forward to speaking with
you both soon.

-Ed

Meanwhile, Mac's contract sat there asserting that no matter
who might actually be able to prove ownership of the movie, he,
Earl Mac Rauch, still owned the rights both to his treatment
for LEPERS FROM SATURN and to the world of Buckaroo Banzai. And
what has been MGM's response to Mac's assertion of those rights?
"Your claim is baseless. MGM owns all the rights to Buckaroo
Banzai." Their lawyers, however, have never pointed out
any language in the contract that supports such a grandiose claim.
Nor have they pointed to any language that refutes our claim
that they failed to acquire even the underlying material upon
which the movie was based. In fact, in the several written studio
responses to our letters asking for a detailed rebuttal to our
claim, MGM has merely resorted to rephrasing, without elaboration,
that same defense: "Your claim is baseless. MGM owns all
the rights to Buckaroo Banzai."

You might well ask why we have chosen to bring all this to the
fore now. For over thirty years we've sat back and watched the
ostensible "ownership rights" to "THE ADVENTURES
OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION" bounce around
the entertainment and financial industries, unloved in libraries
thick with more commercially successful films. But now, suddenly,
with the release of Shout Video's special Bluray edition of the
movie, interest in the potential of the Buckaroo brand has shot
up, and MGM would seem to be working with Amazon Pictures to
create a Buckaroo Banzai TV series. But they have no interest
in involving Buckaroo's original creators. This prompted us to
pull out Mac's foundational 1981 MGM contract to see what his
rights actually were and if he might, at the very least, be due
some sort of royalty payment should the series become a reality.
We both now read contracts with far more sophisticated eyes than
we did in 1981, and something popped out at us. We hired a top-notch
intellectual property lawyer to read Mac's contract to determine
if we were misunderstanding what it actually said. We weren't,
he told us. Then he looked at the title search and read Warner
Brothers' assessment that the chain of title was plagued by numerous
"gaps". He wrote a letter to MGM asserting Mac's rights.

And now, Watson, the game is afoot. We suspect there's more than
enough here for you to digest, and this is not intended to be
a complete statement of our legal position. It is simply a letter
to our friends, one that we hope will make clear what the rights
issues you have or soon may hear about really are. We'll update
you in the near future, as warranted by new events in what Buckaroo
would surely call "a developing situation". Until then,
thanks, Blue Blaze Irregulars, the Kolodney Brothers, the Rug
Suckers, assorted Hong Kong Cavalier fan clubs and auxiliariesthanks
to everyone who is Team Banzai.

By the Oath of the Flying Fish, we remain
Earl Mac Rauch and W.D. Richter

W.D. Richter's DON'T EVEN THINK
ABOUT IT reviewed!

(8/11/15) Perfect Tommy was shopping for underwear
when he came across this review of W.D. Richter's spellbinding
new literary masterpiece, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. It's been
rated better than Fruit of the Loom Boys' Boxer Briefs! Available
in Kindle edition on Amazon.com!

Docudrama to be released in Blu-ray in England!

(4/2/15)
From Blu-ray.com:

Peter Weller is Buckaroo Banzai, a physicist-neurosurgeon-martial
arts master-secret agent-rock star who has just made history
with his invention, the Oscillation Overthruster. The Overthruster
allows him to travel to the 8th Dimension, but this feat draws
the attention of the Red Lectroids, an alien race (led by Christopher
Lloyd) who have teamed up with Banzai's nemesis, the deranged
Dr Lizardo (John Lithgow). Lizardo and the Red Lectroids are
seeking the Overthruster to take over the world and Banzai, with
his team of agents/band musicians, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, must
stop them before it's too late!

With strong references to sci-fi and pop culture that span
Thomas Pynchon and Orson Welles, Buckaroo Banzai is a film made
by fans for fans and counts filmmakers including Wes Anderson
and Kevin Smith among its admirers.

Special Features:
· High Definition Digital transfer of the film from original
elements by MGM-
· 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of
hearing
· Audio commentary with writer-director W.D. Richter and
Reno (writer Earl Mac Rauch)
· Q&A with stars Peter Weller and John Lithgow moderated
by filmmaker Kevin Smith, filmed at Lincoln Center, New York
· Buckaroo Banzai Declassified - An original featurette
on the making of the film featuring W.D. Richter, stars Peter
Weller, Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow and more!
· Visual essay by critic and author Matt Zoller Seitz
· Alternate opening featuring Jamie Lee Curtis
· Closing sequence
· Deleted scenes, featuring fourteen scenes from the workprint
· New Jet Car Trailer and Teaser Trailer
· Gallery
· Trivia track by Pinky Carruthers
· Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned
artwork by Matthew Griffin
· Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic
James Oliver, illustrated with original stills
UK STREET DATE: JULY 20.

MonkeyBoyBoox® Finally Reveals Plans!

(1/28/15)
MonkeyBoyBoox® confirmed today that WD Richter has nearly
completed work on volume one of an ambitious multi-tome futuristic
sci-fi thriller that recounts the absurd life and terrifying
times of Buckminster Brake (R), 49th President of the United
States of America.

Richter and Earl Mac Rauch (Chronicler of
our own Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, the legendary rockstar neurosurgeon
and Institute founder) are in the final throes of launching their
heretofore sub-rosa digital publishing house, MoneyBoyBoox®,
which they intend to debut Real Soon with the release of Richter's
initial offering.

A MonkeyBoy spokesperson further explained
that Richter, working in self-imposed isolation since 2006, has
had a difficult time piecing together the notoriously fractured
and essentially non-existent historical record of President 'Bucky'
Brake's harrowing early life prior to what many have called his
"ridiculous" rise to the highest office in the land.

Contacted directly
by the Institute, Earl Mac Rauch, while reluctant to reveal the
name of his friend's book, revealed that the work had assumed
the form of a short novel or a long short story because it covers
only 24 hours in the 18-year-old future president's life and
takes place mostly in a tree. "But they were eventful hours,"
Rauch stressed, and he also gave further credibility to rumors
that he himself was deep into something he described as "an
unfamiliar look at a familiar subject," fueling speculation
at the Institute that Rauch's own in-progress manuscript might
just be a new B. Banzai thriller and emerge from hiding as "An
Exclusive Earl and Walter Imprint" for fledgling MonkeyBoyBoox®.

Quoting T.S. Eliot's "Burnt Nortion,"
Richter added in an e-mail, "I can only say, there we have
been. But I cannot say where. And I cannot say how long, for
that is to place it in time."

EDIT: 3/8/15: Fixed spelling error in MonkeyBoyBoox.

DOCUDRAMA WINS ROTTEN TOMATOES HONOR!

(2/11/11) IGN'S
Rotten Tomatoes review program has honored the Buckaroo Banzai
docudrama as the #1 Aborted Franchise of All Time. Reviewer Ellen
Fox called the film "bananas," suggesting that perhaps
it was "just a tad too weird for America." We can't
help but agree.

Ms. Fox also mentioned the ongoing efforts by filmmaker W.D.
Richter and historian E.M. Rauch to produce a follow-up docudrama,
possibly documenting the ongoing threat of the World Crime League.
Richter reportedly described the honor as "pretty dang rewarding!"

BANZAI DAY LILY?

(2/1/11)
BBI Susan, our resident horticulturist, recently came across
an intriguing entry in the Rycroft Daylily Nursery's catalog.
It's a flower, emblazoned with vivid colors of the Banzai Institute,
bearing the name of our founder!

Do you know the story behind this glorious bloom? If so, please
share the story with us at:

WCL SMEAR CAMPAIGN!

(1/25/11) It has been brought to our attention that the online
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, an otherwise reputable reference,
contains a highly-questionable review of The Adventures of
Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension. The review
suggests that our favorite docudrama is "badly photographed,
and appears to have been made by underground junk intellectuals
who accidentally stumbled over a fairly big budget."

Filmmaker W.D. Richter, contacted for a response to the negative
review, reacted immediately: "Since when is $14.18 'a fairly
big budget'? I'd post this scurrilous cheap shot at once to alert
all Blue Blazes that Xan is feeling cornered."

BANZAI
INSTITUTE NOW ON FACEBOOK

(1/211) The world-famous Banzai Institute for Biomedical Engineering
and Strategic Information now has an official presence on the
Facebook social networking platform. Institute administrators
for the new page include BBI Silver Fox, who was the publicist
at 20th Century Fox for the docudrama's initial release, as well
as BBI Catnip, who was one of the founding members of the Institute.

All Blue Blaze Irregulars and Institute members are invited
to join us at:

A UNIVERSE BEFORE THE BIG BANG?

(12/14/10)
Intercept from the Banzai Institute from Perfect Tommy, released
by E.M. Rauch:

ATTENBB
FRMPT
RESULTS MY RECENT THINKING

Conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) posits the existence of an
aeon preceeding our Big Bang "B," whose conformal infinity
"I" is identified, conformally, with "B,"
now regarded as a spacelike 3-surface. Black-hole encounters,
within bound galactic clusters in that previous aeon, would have
the observable effect, in our CMB sky, of families of concentric
circles over which the temperature variance is anomalously low,
the centre of each such family representing the point of "I"
at which the cluster converges. These centres appear as fairly
randomly distributed fixed points in our CMB sky. The analysis
of Wilkinsonson Microwave Background Probe's (WMA_) cosmic microwave
background 7-year maps does indeed reveal such concentric circles,
of up to 6-sigma significance. This is confirmed when the same
analysis is applied to BOOMERanG98 data, eliminating the possibility
of an instrumental cause for the effects. These observational
predictions of CCC would not be easily explained within standard
inflationary cosmology.

DBNR

cc: S Hawking, B. Greene, T. Hikita, M. Johnson, A.M. Polyakov

For Immediate Release

ELECTRICITY & THE DEAD
BIBRSI CLEARANCE LEMUR ALPHA

Henry Schlesinger's recently published book The Battery (available
HERE) closely examines the development
and history of portable power cells, and how they've been conceived,
improved, and utilized over the centuries. One application
discussed in the book involves Giovanni Aldini, who was
among a number of researchers attempting to learn more about
the affects of electrical impulses on inanimate lifeforms.

Giovanni's work pre-dates the 1818 publication of Mary
Shelley's similarly themed Frankenstein by at least a decade.
He never actually claimed to have fully reanimated the
dead, instead extolling a command of "vital powers"
and his exertion of "considerable power over the nervous
and muscular systems".

In the early 19th century, Aldini's traveling exhibit
featured the experimenter's strategic application of electrical
currents into the corpses and decapitated heads of both humans
and animals. Aldini, nephew of renowned frog zapper Giovanni
Aldini and great uncle of particle physicist E. Lizardo, both
thrilled and disturbed university and medical audiences in Bologna,
Paris, and London with his ghoulish escapades.

A sense of Aldini's efforts can be gleaned from
one of his own reports:

"...the pointed rod with one end connected to the
battery was now placed in contact with the spinal marrow,
while the other rod was placed in contact with the sciatic nerve.
Every muscle of the body was immediately agitated with convulsive
movements resembling violent shuddering from the coldOn moving
the second rod from the hip to the heel, the knee being previously
bent, the leg was thrown out with such force the assistants,
who in vain attempted to prevent its extension."

"Electrically facilitating the re-animation of subjects
postmortem is something The Institute has previously looked into..."
revealed Dr. Sidney Zwiebel during a recent conference call from
Bandaar Abbas. Dr Zwiebel, after whom the Akira-class large
Federation cruiser/carrier "New Jersey" is named, went
on to say that "It's not all that hard to raise the
dead, but the energy required to do so contravenes electrical
impulses in the subject's neural network. The result is
troubling and distasteful."

When pressed for further details about The Institute's apparent
failure to fully resuscitate deceased individuals, the doctor,
often referred to as simply "New Jersey" himself, would
only comment, "Well, I'll say this, and I think Dr. Banzai
would agree, that was one a really long week." "And
it brought us a new appreciation of liability waivers!"
added Perfect Tommy.

LOST XAN MASK FOUND!

RECENTLY DECLASSIFIED PROGRAMS

(1/2/10)
Announcing an all-new feature from the Banzai Institute: RECENTLY
DECLASSIFIED INSTITUTE PROGRAMS. As you know, the Institute has
many amazing programs in the works at any given time. As you
also know, many of them are deeply classified for reasons of
national security and to avoid collateral damage to bystanders.
Still, the Institute has a policy of perodically reviewing the
security status of its programs, and declassifying material that
is no longer considered to be highly sensitive.

Institute members wishing to share newly-declassified program
data are urged to contact Reno Nevada: reno@banzai-institute.com

For Immediate Release

Banzai Comic Con trailer!

(12/15/09) In case you missed it when it was first released,
here's a cool trailer made in 2006 to promote Moonstone Books'
Buckaroo Banzai graphic novels! (Thanks to W.D. Richter for the
heads-up on this one!)

Dan-Looking back; well, first off, how do you feel about looking
back on the last 25 years, Buckaroo Banzai or no?

Rick-I don't know how I had the energy to live them. I must have
been considerably younger.

Dan-Do you see anniversaries like this as a welcome opportunity
to reminisce or an unwelcome house guest distracting you from
the future or something else entirely?

Rick-Neither. I'm not a reminisicist, nor am I distractible,
because if something succeeds in getting my attention, it's probably
something I'd prefer to do to what I was doing at the time it
distracted me.

Dan-What is the one question you are asked about Buckaroo Banzai,
besides the watermelon, that you never need to hear again?

Rick-"Why did you make that ridiculous movie? I didn't get
it at all."

Dan-Unreal. What is the one question you are never asked about
Buckaroo Banzai that you wish someone would?

Rick-"Did you actually have any idea what the movie was
really going to be like?

Dan-And the answer is...?

Rick-No.

Dan-If you were to take an inventory of the items in the Banzai
archives, what would be some of the highlights on that list?
A particular story treatment or drawing on a napkin or a photograph?

Rick-Without a doubt, the earliest drafts of Mac Rauch's partial
"Buckaroo Bandy" scripts. They explain everything,
even the watermelon.

Dan-It is tempting to ask questions like, "If you had it
all to do again..." or, "What would you change if you
were making the film today..." when an anniversary comes
up. What do you think of these sorts of questions?

Rick-I think=2 0I wish Jordan Cronenweth hadn't been fired by
David Begelman for making the first stuff we shot "look
too much like Blade Runner,"and I wish we'd had a few extra
weeks to shoot so that the truly gifted cast and crew might have
been able to savor Mac's script more. Oh, the lost possibilities.
What would I change? That goddamn lollipop Peter Weller insisted
he suck during the crucial Orson-Welles staircase scene. I'd
change it to a fish-hook-on-a-stick.

Dan-Do you naturally find yourself asking these questions as
well or not so much?

Rick-You mean "Do I talk to myself?" Or "Do I
ask strangers I meet?"

Dan-Yes.

Rick-Neither.

Dan-If you have been mulling those sorts of questions, what are
some of your answers? How do they differ from they way you would
have answered them 25 years ago?

Rick-Are these all trick questions?

Dan-Believe me, it was worse. Be glad, "Is The Adventures
of Buckaroo Banzai in any way a love letter to Friedrich Wilhelm
Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra?" hit the cutting
room floor.

Rick-Jesus, who knows? Civilization hadn't even hinted that it
was imploding back then. I was having a good time, more or less.
I think.

Dan-You are trapped in a room with a loaf of bread, a penguin,
the ghost of Cesar Romero, and an old beat up copy of Tiger Beat
magazine. How long does it take you to totally disregard the
scenario and move onto something else?

Rick-This is precisely one of those questions that's going to
stall health-care reform in Congress and derail the peace process
in Iraq.

Dan-Of the several Banzai projects that ran the gauntlet and
didn't make it over the last 25 years, which one were you most
disappointed to see go by the wayside?

Rick-The TV pilot. Mac wrote a sensational script=2 0about Dr.
Lizardo and potato guns. It was too frightening for Fox, more
terrifying than homosexuality in their eyes.

Dan-Which one gave you the most joy putting together?

Rick-Again, the pilot script. So many wonderful BB fans, mostly
on Star Trek, designed better graphics for free than we had in
the movie, and Mac's script was beyond the fringe. It was published
in truncated form as a Moonstone Comic...RETURN OF THE SCREW.
But if we'd actually filmed it? David Begelman would have lost
his fudge in his grave. That said, I miss David. He was sincerely
mean to me. He meant ill.

Dan-Are there any current goings on regarding Buckaroo?

Rick-There's chatter about a hybrid Jet Car and an animated TV
series, and more comics are in the works. I'm the wrong guy to
ask, though. Perfect Tommy is producing for the Institute now
that Mrs. Johnson is on maternity leave.

Dan-Any final thoughts on the anniversary?

Rick-I think all BB fans should each send Mac Rauch a bottle
of champagne. He picks u p his mail at Moonstone Comics. No cheap
shit, either.

NOTE: BBI Dragon informs us that the sure-to-be-a-collector's-item
25th anniversary issue of World Watch One will be available in
the library section of BBI ArcLight's website, along with back
issues. Check it out at http://www.worldwatchonline.com/

For Immediate Release

Attention Tri-State
BBIs: 25th anniversary screening

(8/11/09) Send a message to all Blue Blaze Irregulars in the
tri-state area! A 25th Anniversary screening of "The Adventures
of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension!" will occur
at the Laurelhurst Theater 2735 East Burnside Street, Portland,
Oregon on Saturday, August 15th at 9:30 pm. The Laurelhurst serves
fresh pizza and microbrew beer. Local BBIs will be distributing
a limited edition print version of the 25th Anniversary Buckaroo
Banzai newsletter.

Spread the word. Come and enjoy! laurelhursttheater.com.

Editors' note: We can't believe it's been 25 years! Where
did the time go?

For Immediate Release

Dr. B. Banzai statement on the election of Barack Obama
as President of the United States

(11/05/08) Earl Mac Rauch, noted writer and biographer of
Dr. B. Banzai, received the following message from the good Doctor,
commenting on yesterday's election of Barack Hussein Obama as
the 44th President of the United States of America:

"With my ascetic beliefs, I generally temper the high
with the low, but not everything can be deconstructed. Certain
moments in life are simply unalloyed joy. As I said to Barack
in my congratulatory call last night, 'Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahhahahha!!'"

-Dr. B. Banzai."

Presenting Pecos!

(2/7/08)
Many students of Dr. B. Banzai have bemoaned the absence of Pecos
from the acclaimed docudrama, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai:
Across the Eighth Dimension. Unfortunately, as most fans
are aware, during the timeframe of the film, Pecos was in Tibet,
much to the chagrin of Reno Nevada, who had been looking forward
to seeing his Significant Other represented on the big screen.
Reno tells us that he had some interesting casting suggestions
for the lovely Pecos, if she had been part of the movie's script.

Fortunately for Reno (and other Pecos fans), our friends at
Moonstone Books is rectifying the situation with the publication
of Wild Asses of the Kush, one of the latest issues in
their Banzai graphic novel series.

Wild Asses features the mysterious gunslinger, so we
can finally see the woman who won Reno's heart, and maybe understand
a bit of why she is such a force to be contended with. The book
was written by Banzai scribe Earl Mac Rauch and noted filmmaker
W.D. Richter, with art by Paul Hanley and is published by Moonstone.

Also forthcoming from Moonstone Books is Tomb With A View,
a one-shot Banzai graphic novel that will reveal the origin of
Dr. B. Banzai.

For Immediate Release

Lewis Smith's Actors Academy

(12/26/07) Actor Lewis Smith, widely noted for his popular
portrayal of Perfect Tommy in the docudrama, The Adventures
of Buckaroo Banzai: Across The Eighth Dimension, has founded
The Actors Academy, a training program for thespians working
in film and television. Smith, a veteran Hollywood actor whose
other credits include Wyatt Earp, In the Line of Duty, and The
Heavenly Kid, credits such luminaries as Lee Strasberg, Stella
Adler, and Sanford Meisner for helping him to understand the
theory and practice of actors. According to Smith, he founded
the Actor's Academy in 1988 in an effort to give back by sharing
his experience with fellow performers.

The Actors Academy, which is located in Santa Monica, California,
can be contacted at ActorsAcademy@gmail.com or at their website,
http://www.actors-academy.com/.

For Immediate Release

An interview with Earl Mac Rauch

(11/9/07) Scholars,
Banzai Institute members, and students of Dr. B. Banzai are all
aware of legendary writer Earl Mac Rauch. Along with our own
Reno Nevada, Rauch has documented the life and times of Dr. Banzai,
most notably in the docudrama, The Adventures of Buckaroo
Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension. One of Rauch's latest
works is the popular graphic novel series Buckaroo Banzai:
Return of the Screw, recently published by Moonstone Books. The series is based on "Supersize
Those Fries!", the iconic pilot script for the proposed
Buckaroo Banzai television series.

In Return of the Screw, Rauch (with docudrama director
W.D. Richter) recounts the extraordinary period in Dr. B. Banzai's
life in which he was haunted by nightmares of Penny Priddy's
death, and found himself forced to meet the challenge of an unexpected
threat at the hands of old enemies. Now, the three volumes of
Return of the Screw are set to be collected in trade paperback
to be published in mid-December 2007 by Moonstone.

Dan Berger: Can you tell us a little about your personal
introductions to Team Banzai?

Earl Mac Rauch: I hope to sell this story to the tabloids
someday for a lot of money, so obviously I'm not going to tell
it here. It's also a sensitive issue because it gets into privacy
policies at the Banzai Institute. As you know, whether you show
up at the Institute East or the ranch out west and are selected
to become an "embryo," the file of your past life is
sealed and burned in a special ritual campfire. Without naming
names, I could tell you stuff about some of your heroes that
would curl your toes. Some have led pretty messy lives, maybe
done hard time and all the rest of it, but I imagine there are
things in your background that you wouldn't particularly want
to advertise, either.

DB: What started the ball rolling on the docudrama,
and how did you become involved?

EMR: W.D. Richter lied to me, as he has on repeated
occasions. Just kidding.

DB: Aside from lawyers and Deathheads, what kept Buckaroo
and the band out of the public eye throughout most of the 1990s?

EMR: Mainly those legal issues you mention and a number
of Xan's Hollywood thug operatives, who we call the "Axis
of Evil." George W. Bush had it exactly right, as usual.

DB: During an appearance before the United States Senate,
Senator Strom Thurmond once asked Dr. Banzai if he was or had
ever been a Communist. Dr. Banzai corrected that he was in fact
a "commonist." What is commonism?

EMR: "Commonism" is not any particular ideology,
but a belief in "common" human beings, "ordinary"
people working together for a common good. It's anti-elitist.

DB: Anything you can tell us about the next Buckaroo
Banzai adventure?

EMR: The next one is called "Of Hunan Bondage"
and deals with Buckaroo's early life up until Peggy's kidnapping
on the eve of their wedding. I honestly don't know if she's dead.
I hope she's dead, otherwise she's probably Hanoi Xan's sex slave.
It's a prequel, I suppose, and blows the lid off the country
music industry. After that comes "Wild Asses of the Kush."

SECOND, an all-new miniseries, Of Hunan Bondage, is
a prequel to the famous Buckaroo Banzai docudrama. Written by
Earl Mac Rauch, and illustrated by none other than Chewie, Of
Human Bondage promises to reveal much more about the noted
neurosurgeon, particle physicist, rock musician, humanitarian,
and adventurer.

And if that's not enough, December 2007 will see Moonstone's
release of A Christmas Corrall, a holiday special written
by Rauch, with art by Ken Wolak.

UPDATE 10/1/07: Dan "Big Shoulders" Berger
just sent us the following: "Moonstone is pretty close to
releasing the trade paperback collection of Return of the
Screw, which will feature a lot of additional material, icluding
some alternate covers they didn't print, scripting for alternate
endings to the story, and an interview with Mac that I did back
in June." (Thanks, Dan!)

For Immediate Release:

BB Docudrama honored

(6/26/07) The online edition of The Guardian has recognized
the iconic Buckaroo Banzai docudrama as one of the 1000 most
important films of all time. The British newspaper recently honored
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension
in a feature titled "1000 Films to See Before You Die."
The Guardian called the BB docudrama "a joy to discover,"
noting that "it pulls off the trick of being nearly incomprehensible,
yet sharply funny." (Thanks to Joe S. Martino!)

Remembering a top
scientist

LOS ANGELES (June 13) -- Don Herbert, who as television's "Mr.
Wizard" introduced generations of young viewers to the joys
of science, died Tuesday. He was 89. Herbert, who had bone cancer,
died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom
Nikosey.

In "Watch Mr. Wizard," which was produced from 1951
to 1964 and received a Peabody Award in 1954, Herbert turned
TV into an entertaining classroom. On a simple, workshop-like
set, he demonstrated experiments using household items.

"He modeled how to predict and measure and analyze. ...
The show today might seem slow but it was in-depth and forced
you to think along," Jacobs said. "You were learning
about the forces of nature."

Herbert encouraged children to duplicate experiments at home,
said Jacobs, who recounted serving as a behind-the-scenes "science
sidekick" to Herbert on the '80s "Mr. Wizard's World"
that aired on the Nickelodeon channel.

When Jacobs would reach for beakers and flasks, Herbert would
remind him that science didn't require special tools.

"'You could use a mayonnaise jar for that,"' Jacobs
recalled being chided by Herbert. "He tried to bust the
image of scientists and that science wasn't just for special
people and places."

UPDATE:
Banzai director remembers Mr. Wizard

(6/18/07) From W.D. Richter, director of the Buckaroo Banzai
docudrama:

"How well I remember the story Buckaroo told Mac about
the time a tiny (but perfect) Tommy was on the Mr. Wizard
show. He brought his own mayonnaise jar because he'd
seen Mr. Wizard suggest the possibility the week before. On
the air, Tommy screwed up the morning's experiment because his
jar was still half full of mayo!"

Banzai preview issue selling out!

(2/10/06) The preview issue of the new Buckaroo Banzai
graphic novel is selling out around the country. The Institute
has gotten reports from Blue Blaze Irregulars and comic fans
that many stores are already out of the special, published by
Moonstone Books. The eagerly-awaited preview issue is an advance
look at the styles and adventures from the forthcoming miniseries
from a story written by Earl Mac Rauch. In some cases, retailers
have reported selling out their entire stock of the Banzai
preview on the first day!

BBI field reports indicate that a few retailers still have
copies of the preview edition, so anyone wanting this sure-to-be-a-collector's-item
is urged to check soon at your favorite comic or specialty store.
Also, according to Joe Gentile at Moonstonebooks, a small number of additional
copies are still available and are being rushed to retailers
to meet the unexpectedly high demand.

The full miniseries, titled "Return of the Screw,"
is expected to be released by Moonstone in April.

Special thanks to BBI Big Shoulders and BBI Arclight for the
heads-up!

For Immediate Release:

Banzai Institute back on-line

(12/3/05) The Banzai Institute website is back on-line following
an unexplained systems failure earlier this week. Institute members
attempting to access this website for much of Saturday, December
3rd, were greeted with a mysterious error message. Webmaster
Scooter Lindley headed a BBI Technical Strike Team that was successful
in restoring service by Saturday evening.

Early reports suggesting that the outage was due to World
Crime League activity appear to be untrue, according to Lindley.
Institute representatives have been working with authorities
from APO and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate
reports that the outage may be linked to an outbreak of mad penguin
disease at the Institute's Antarctic research station. Nevertheless,
Lindley has indicated that the situation appears to be under
control and there is no immediate cause for further concern.
We will update this report as future developments may warrant.

Our thanks to BBI Riptide and BBI Big Shoulders for bringing
the outage to our attention.

For
Immediate Release:

Update
on Buckaroo Banzai graphic novel preview edition

(11/8/05) In response to those who have asked about finding
the "preview edition" of the upcoming Banzai graphic
novel, we've just gotten this update from Joe Gentile at Moonstone
Books, the publishers of the upcoming Banzai graphic novel, courtesy
of BBI Big Shoulders:

"The BB preview will be available to any comic
shop in the US and beyond who order it from Diamond, FM, or COLD
CUT. As to how many units will be printed, that really depends
on how many are ordered. Fans need to tell their local shops
that they are interested in BB!"

"For those living in an area without a comic shop, or
in the event that their local store will not carry the issue,
people can purchase a copy either through a mail order comic
shop, an on-line comic shop, or at the Moonstone booth at the
conventions we attend, or direct from Moonstonebooks.com!"

UPDATE 11/09: Big Shoulders informs us that Joe Gentile has
confirmed that Issue #1 of Buckaroo Banzai: Return of the
Screw will hit the shelves in April of 2006!

For Immediate Release:

Helping victims of Hurricane Katrina

(9/2/05) Our neighbors and friends on the Gulf Coast need
our help. They need a lot of it, and they need it now.
Please give of your time and your money. This disaster has proven
that individuals and private organizations can and do make the
critical difference in a catastrophe.

The American Red Cross is on the scene with people, services,
and supplies. They need money and volunteers:http://www.redcross.org/

Amazon.com lets you donate directly to the American Red Cross
with their handy 1-Click service:http://www.amazon.com/

Volunteer Match specializes in helping volunteers find worthy
organizations to help the public good. You can find a national
organization that needs your help, or one in your own hometown.
Their database includes over 34,000 organizations that need volunteers.
The choice is yours:http://www.volunteermatch.org/

The USA Freedom Corps has been endorsed by both former presidents
Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush. Their website offers opportunities
to contribute to national and state relief funds, and it helps
locate volunteer opportunities in many areas of need:http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/

Banzai
graphic novel previews in December

(9/1/05) As previously reported, the folks over at Moonstone
are putting together a three-issue comic book miniseries about
Buckaroo and the Hong Kong Cavaliers. It's called Return of
the Screw, and it's written by Earl Mac Rauch, from a story
by Mac Rauch and W.D. Richter. We loved their work on the docudrama
movie a while back, even though Perfect Tommy thinks they ran
away with his egg poacher. Rick and Mac firmly deny this "ridiculous"
allegation.

This December, Moonstone will release a 16 page, black &
white preview issue. This special installment will feature art
from the upcoming miniseries, an interview with Mr. Richter,
as well as character profiles and pin-ups. While the preview
will be rendered in provocative black and white, the miniseries
itself will be presented groovy color!

We got a peek at what Moonstone has in store for the preview release,
as well as samples of cover art by the rockin' Matt Haley and Michael Stribling. Interior art for the preview
will be handled by Stephen Thompson and Keith Williams.

When Buckaroo heard about the preview's amazing FIFTY CENT
price tag, he said, "50 cents!? Wow! That's cheaper than
a Jim-Jam Snappy Pop on a Midsummer's day!" We're not sure
what this means, exactly, but he seemed very happy.

Banzai director pens new thriller

(7/29/05)
Sony Pictures' new action flick, Stealth, was written
by noted screenwriter W.D. Richter. Stealth, directed by
Rob Cohen and starring Josh Lucas, Jaimie Foxx, and Jessica Biel,
follows the saga of three top Navy aviators who are assigned
to a top-secret weapons program, a computer-piloted fighter jet.
W.D. Richter is best known to friends of the Banzai Institute
as the director of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across
the Eighth Dimension. Richter, along with Reno Nevada
and Earl
Mac Rauch, is serving as a consultant to Moonstone Comics
for an upcoming graphic novel series based on several yet-untold
adventures of Dr. B. Banzai. Richter received an Academy Award
nomination in 1980 for his script for Brubaker.

Banzai Institute representatives who attended a preview screening
of Stealth report that the film is a popcorn thriller
with lots of exciting chase scenes and amazing visual effects.
"Perfect summer fare!" proclaimed a Blue Blaze Irregular.
They also note that W.D. Richter's script reveals - to those
paying close attention - that the Truncheon bomber (which was
once contracted to the now-defunct Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems)
ultimately became a secret missile, developed for the U.S. Navy.
But you have to listen carefully.

Another Banzai alumnus who worked on Stealth
was production designer J. Michael Riva.

Banzai star treks boldly

(5/05) Actor Peter Weller, star of the acclaimed docudrama
Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension, is guest-starring
in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. Weller plays
John Paxton, the powerful leader of Terra Prime, a separatist
group dedicated to keeping Earth free of alien influence. Weller,
who gained popular recognition for his portrayal of Dr. B. Banzai
in the 1984 docudrama, has also headlined such genre fare as
Robocop, Leviathan, and Showtime's recent Odyssey
5 series. Weller's Star Trek: Enterprise episodes
are titled "Demons" and "Terra Prime."

Institute operatives, reporting undercover fom Paramount Pictures,
reveal that "Demons" director LeVar Burton confessed
to be a fan of the good doctor. Burton even prevailed on Weller
to use a replica of Dr. B. Banzai's Oscillation Overthruster
as a prop in a key scene in the episode (pictured).

Weller's first episode will air on Friday, May 6th on the
UPN network. "Terra Prime," his second episode, is
slated for broadcast on Friday, May 13, 2005. "Terra Prime"
will air together with an episode titled "These Are The
Voyages..." as a two-hour "event." The latter
episode is the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale, making
this the last first run primetime airing of Star Trek
for the forseeable future. UPN announced its cancellation of
Star Trek: Enterprise in early February.

More information on Peter Weller's appearance can be found
at startrek.com.

For Immediate Release:

MOONSTONE TO PUBLISH ALL-NEW BANZAI GRAPHIC NOVEL MINISERIES

(1/05)
An all-new chapter in Dr. Banzai's exploits will soon be found
in comic shops everywhere.

Moonstone Comics has joined forces with Earl Mac Rauch and W.D.
Richter (the team behind the 1984 docudrama Buckaroo Banzai:
Across the Eighth Dimension) to chronicle more of Dr. Banzai's
exploits in an upcoming graphic novel miniseries.

With the exception of the underappreciated manga/candybar hybrid,
The Strange Fate and Protracted Lament of Speedy the Syrian
Hamster (which Buckaroo doesn't want us to talk about very
much), this marks the first time Dr. Banzai & the Hong Kong
Cavaliers have appeared in comic form since Marvel's adaptation
of the docudrama.

Art for the new books will be handled by acclaimed Star Wars
artist Stephen Thompson. If you're wondering where to find Moonstone
comics, here's an extensive list of retailers.

LENDING A HAND - SOUTH ASIA TRAGEDY

(12/30/04) In response to numerous inquiries, Dr. B. Banzai
has asked us to provide the following links for friends of the
Banzai Institute who wish to donate money to aid the victims
of the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Southern Asia.

Amazon.com
offers its customers the ability to use its "1-Click"
system to make donations directly to the American Red Cross to
benefit their South Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Relief
efforts.

Obviously, there are many options for helping. The need is
immediate, critical, and unimaginably great. Dr. Banzai thanks
everyone in advance for their generous contributions in this
time of global need.

For Immediate Release:

Watermelon project update

(7/15/04) After 20 years of painstaking research, endless
experimentation, and numerous moppings of the lab, Blue Blaze
Irregular Big Shoulders reports that Phase 2 of the Watermelon
Airlift Delivery Project is a complete success.

As many of you no doubt remember, Phase 1 was to develop a
food source that could be dropped from a low-altitude aircraft
into remote areas of the world. The watermelon was chosen and
ultimately proved sucessful. Phase 2 included the introduction
of a protein source. In this case, a cleaned, raw chicken was
inserted into the watermelon prior to egress. After delivery,
the watermelon could be heated whole, providing a perfectly cooked
chicken in every green-skinned pot.

Observed Big Shoulders, "The tricky part was getting
through the rind testing trials. Dynamic pressures within a watermelon
really build up once the 'lid' seals in the chicken and the oven
heats up. We got to see a chicken fly a few times before figuring
things out. You could say the situation was explosive!"
For the skeptical, Big Shoulders assures us the chicken was quite
edible, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.

A more complete report can be found in the upcoming World
Watch One newsletter.

For Immediate Release:

First privately-funded human spaceflight

(6/21/04) The world
witnessed the dawn of a new space age today, as investor and
philanthropist Paul G. Allen and Scaled Composites launched the
first private manned vehicle beyond the Earth's atmosphere. The
successful launch demonstrated that the final frontier is now
open to private enterprise. Under the command of test pilot Mike
Melvill, SpaceShipOne reached a record breaking altitude of 328,491
feet (approximately 62 miles or 100 km), making Melvill the first
civilian to fly a spaceship out of the atmosphere and the first
private pilot to earn astronaut wings.

This flight begins
an exciting new era in space travel," said Paul G. Allen,
sole sponsor in the SpaceShipOne program. "Burt Rutan and
his team at Scaled Composites are part of a new generation of
explorers who are sparking the imagination of a huge number of
people worldwide and ushering in the birth of a new industry
of privately funded manned space flight." The historic flight
also marks the first time an aerospace program has successfully
completed a manned mission without government sponsorship. "Today's
flight marks a critical turning point in the history of aerospace,"
said Scaled Composites founder and CEO Burt Rutan. " We
have redefined space travel as we know it."

BBI Catnip represented the Banzai Institute at the Mojave
Airport for the historic flight. "It was really cool to
see SpaceShipOne soaring into the wild blue yonder," she
said. "Not only that," she added, "it wasn't as
loud as Buckaroo's Jet Car!" A large crowd watched the momentous
flight live from the grounds of the Mojave Airport, joining millions
of others around the world who tuned in by television, radio,
and the internet.

For Immediate Release:

New Banzai Merchandise available

(10/4/03)
Starland has announced it is offering for sale two new cloisinne pins from the Banzai Institute
and the Buckaroo Banzai docudrama. The first pin displays the
world-famous
Banzai Institute seal, while the other carries the logo of
the now-defunct Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems. Both pins are about
one inch in overall size, and bear detailed, accurate designs
rendered in durable cloisinne resin. Starland is a noted dealer
of film memorabilia and has been a staunch supporter of Buckaroo
Banzai and the Banzai Institute since the original theatrical
release of the Banzai docudrama. In addition to these two new
items, Starland also offers a variety of Banzai-themed t-shirts,
patches, posters, and other goodies. To purchase these items,
go to the Starland
website. (Thanks to ArcLight and to Steve Walker for the
heads-up on this one!)

For
Immediate Release:

Institute members search for extraterrestrial life (updated
9/05)

(8/4/03)
Members of the Banzai Institute have banded together to join
the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. They have done
this by installing the SETI@Home screensaver on their personal
computers. The screensaver makes use of idle computer time to
perform scientific analysis on actual data gathered by the huge
Arecibo radio telescope. These analyses look for signs of radio
signals that might have come from extraterrestrial civilizations.
Some 4.6 million people have signed up for SETI@Home, making
it the largest distributed computing project in history.

The Banzai Institute's SETI@Home team was organized by two
long-time Insitute supporters.

UPDATE: 9/05: SETI@Home now uses BOINC, the Berkeley Open
Infrastructure for Network Computing. This lets you donate computer
processing time to SETI research, as well as other scientific
projects. It supports multiple processors, and it gives the user
more control over when SETI@Home runs, and the amount of computer
resources used by the application. New SETI@Home users should
use the BOINC software. Previous users can continue to use Classic
SETI@Home, although most have chosen to migrate to the new software.
The links below have been revised for the new BOINC application:

Institute
members wishing to joing the Banzai Institute team should first
download the BOINC client software. Present Banzai Institute
SETI team members wishing to upgrade to the BOINC software can
also download the software here:http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php

UPDATE: 10/4/03: Banzai Institute team members across the
United States and the UK have now contributed a little over 24
years' worth of computer processing time to the Search for Extraterrestrial
Life, during which they have performed number crunching on more
than 13,000 SETI work units.

UPDATE: 8/10/04: The Banzai Insitute SETI team now has
some 62 members from the US, UK, Australia, and Germany. Collectively,
they've contributed some 77 years of CPU time, processing over
55,000 work units in the scientific search for extraterrestrial
life.

UPDATE: 1/15/05 Currently, the Banzai Institute SETI team
has grown to 68 members who have donated an incredible 120 YEARS
of computer time, processing over 115,000 work units. For current
Banzai SETI team statistics, click here.

For Immediate Release:

OSCILLATION
OVERTHRUSTER replica to be auctioned for charity

(5/15/03) A nonfunctional replica of Dr. B. Banzai's famous
OSCILLATION OVERTHRUSTER is being offered for auction on eBay.
This is the first replica of the amazing device to be offered
for sale to the general public.

Included with the prop is a Certificate of Authenticity from
the Banzai Institute, with authorized facsimile signatures of
Dr. B. Banzai and W.D. Richter, director of the Buckaroo Banzai
docudrama film. The certificate also bears the signatures of
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. The entire proceeds of this
auction will be donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS
Foundation, so the entire purchase price will be tax deductable
in the US (except for shipping charges).The auction closes on
Thursday, May 22, 2003.

UPDATE: 5/31/03: The auction has successfully concluded,
raising $405.00 in support of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric
AIDS Foundation. Our thanks to The Lost World Convention organizaing
committee for letting us be a part of this worthy effort.

For Immediate Release:

Banzai
DVD honored

(2/18/03) The MGM Home Video special edition DVD of The
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension
has been honored by the Digital Bits web magazine in their fourth
annual Bitsy Awards. The award, presented in the category of
"Best DVD - Psychotronic" recognizes the Buckaroo Banzai
docudrama for having "in spades the one element that most
disks completely overlook: a sense of humor." The Digital
Bits editors noted that the special edition disk is "possibly
the first DVD ever produced with the full cooperation of its
main character," and that the film is "a real cult
classic and one of the most perfect marriages of content, style
and disc production to date."

The special edition of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai was
produced by MGM
Home Video and is still available through video retailers
and online dealers such as Amazon.com and Blockbuster. Special thanks to Kim and to
ArcLight for the heads-up on this one!

For Immediate Release:

Buckaroo Banzai is Amazon top seller

(1/20/02) The Adventures of Buckaroo
Banzai Special Edition DVD continues to be among the
top sellers for Internet superstore Amazon.com. The MGM Home Video title, chronicling
the heroic efforts of Dr. B. Banzai to protect Earth against
an invasion of Lectroids from Planet 10 in the eighth dimension,
has consistently been in Amazon's top ten best selling DVDs.
The film has often ranked as high as fifth since its DVD release
on January 2, 2002.

For Immediate Release:

MGM Home Video enlists fans to promote
Buckaroo

(1/16/02) Recognizing the strong role that fans have always
played in the success of the Banzai property, MGM Home
Video has been placing two different animated banner advertisements
for the Buckaroo Banzai DVD on fan-run websites. The studio
has retained ADDMarketing, a noted marketing firm specializing
in Internet promotions for this effort.

For Immediate Release:

DVD Journal, AICN give Banzai
disk a big thumbs up!

(1/14/02) The DVD Journal website (dvdjournal.com) praised the Buckaroo Banzai
Special Edition DVD, calling it "a marvelous, surprising
platter that, unlike most DVDs, extends the movie's fiction
rather than deconstructing it." Reviewer Alexandra DuPont
calls the disk's supplemental material a "Buckaroo Banzai
Rosetta Stone," adding that the extras "expand its
universe and ultimately transforms [it] into a vastly richer
multimedia experience." DuPont's article, which also appears
on film news site Ain't-It-Cool-News, includes a detailed breakdown
of the extras on the disk, plus a listing of some of the "Easter
Eggs" hidden on the DVD.

For Immediate Release:

Buckaroo Banzai sales soar

(1/8/2002) MGM Home Video executive Alyssa Moore today announced
that both Best Buy and Circuit City, among the nation's largest
video retailers, have both sold 66% of their inventory of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Special
Edition DVD in the first week of release. So pleased
are both retail giants that they are already re-ordering the
title from MGM
Home Video. Similarly, sales of the new Pocket Books edition
of Earl Mac Rauch's novelization have been extremely strong.
Bookstore sales are expected to climb, as the novel becomes stocked
in increasing numbers of retail outlets over the next few weeks.
(NTC News)

For Immediate Release:

Critics love Buckaroo!

(1/8/2002) After years of waiting, effort, and setback, The
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai docudrama DVD finally hit stores
last week, and it's being talked about across the Internet.

Ali, an editor at Amazon.com (where the film is currently the
fifth highest-selling DVD), calls the docudrama "one of
the most agreeably insane movies ever made." Considering
how mundane the film's subject matter seems to most staff members
at the Institute, we're not entirely sure Ali appreciated the
film's subtler "slice of life" / reflective sensibilities.

Albert Kim at Entertainment Weekly says "Fans will
drool over the extras", and calls the movie "unadulterated
fun".

The disc has been well-received by several DVD supersites
as well. DVD File's Mark Keizer noted that its "...picture
is surprisingly clean and bright; there are plenty of newer films
that look worse", and called the docudrama "a dream
come true" for fans.

The Digital Bits' Bill Hunt indicated "You've
certainly never seen Buckaroo looking this good before...A lot
of care has gone into this disc, and if you're a fan, you're
really going to love it". Click on the names of these sites
to access full reviews of the DVD.

Meanwhile, technophiles have begun uncovering the plethora
of Easter Eggs (hidden "extras") cleverly planted throughout
the DVD by Institute personnel. Dr. Banzai would not indicate
how many eggs were actually hidden on the DVD, and flatly refused
to address mounting speculation that these "eggs" might
serve a purpose beyond mere entertainment value. To start your
"egg hunt" (and to learn more about Chicken in a Watermelon),
explore various menu screens and "highlight" graphics
you may not otherwise think to highlight.

For Immediate Release

Buckaroo Banzai Special Edition DVD released!

(1/2/2002)
MGM Home Video has released the long-awaited DVD version of The
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension.
This Special Edition DVD, produced by Michael Arick in association
with the Banzai Institute, features a pristine widescreen transfer
of the classic docudrama, plus an amazing collection of special
features including:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension
from MGM
Home Video is available at video retailers, as well as through
many on-line retailers, including Amazon.com and Blockbuster.

For Immediate Release:

Buckaroo Banzai novel published!

(11/1/2001) For years, Earl
Mac Rauch's classic novelization of The Adventures of Buckaroo
Banzai has been out of print. If you weren't among the few
who picked up a copy of the original limited printing, you were
out of luck. Sure, maybe you could buy a copy on eBay, but you
could count on paying hefty collector's prices. To the frustration
of so many fans, there just weren't that many copies of the book
out there!

But now, Pocket Books has published an all-new edition
of the novel that started it all! Written by Earl Mac Rauch (in
close collaboration with Reno Nevada), The Adventures of Buckaroo
Banzai chronicles the astonishing Jet Car test that unleased
an extraterrestrial threat from the eighth dimension.

"I speak Spanish to God, French to women, English
to men, and Japanese to my horse."-- Buckaroo Banzai

Buckaroo Banzai. A strange, elusive figure, his name whispered
in barrooms and boardrooms, his advice sought by pashas and presidents,
his exploits recounted in movies, novels, and comic books that
seem somehow more real than life itself.

Buckaroo Banzai. First and foremost an extraordinary brain surgeon.
In his spare time designer and driver of the electrifying Jet
Car, a speed machine faster than sound! Buckaroo Banzai. A happy
man whose life has been marked by great tragedy, who speaks a
dozen languages and writes songs in all of them. His musical
sidekicks the Hong Kong Cavaliersó Rawhide, Reno, the
Swede, Perfect Tommy, Flyboy, Big Norse, Pecosóare one
of the toughest, most popular hard-rocking bar bands in east
Texas.

Join Team Banzai on their two-fisted, action-packed assault against
the evil red Lectroids from Planet 10!

Experience the horrors of the Shock Tower and the Pitt deep
within the walls of Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems as Buckaroo Banzai
fights against impossible odds to rescue Penny Priddy from the
clutches of Dr. Emilio Lizardo, the diabolically alien dictator.
Pray that Buckaroo will succeed, knowing only too well that if
he fails the Earth itself will be blown to dust!

For the first time in years, Pocket Books is proud to present
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. This special edition
features a new introduction by the author and a color insert
featuring photos and illustration seen here for the very first
time!

No matter where you go, there you are.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension
is available at booksellers everywhere, as well as through many
on-line retailers, including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.